Tuition

News about Tuition, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

Jun. 7, 2015

Op-Ed article by Lee Siegel describes reasons why he defaulted on his student loans, and suggests that those who face similar financial burden should consider doing the same; questions morality of higher education system in which prohibitively high tuition rates are threatening social mobility in American society. MORE

May. 20, 2015

Frank Bruni Op-Ed column criticizes outsize pay for college presidents and administrators in the United States, noting a disturbing similarity with inflated pay of Wall Street executives; holds extravagance is even more unsettling as colleges increasingly rely on labor of low-paid, part-time adjuncts and a steep rise in tuition. MORE

May. 19, 2015

The Upshot; public universities are gradually reducing in-state college tuition break by not only raising tuition but by restricting number of students allowed to pay discounted rate; trend could limit upward mobility, since these schools have historically provided meritocratic way for people from all economic classes to obtain a college education. MORE

May. 15, 2015

California Gov Jerry Brown agrees to expand state budget for University of California by 4 percent in each of the next four years, and to provide infusion of $436 million toward paying down system's pension obligations; 10-campus system would have to agree to tuition freeze for in-state students in exchange; measures, if approved by Legislature, would end prolonged standoff. MORE

Apr. 11, 2015

Board of privately funded Cooper Union college offers to dismiss president Jamshed Bharucha in effort to hasten conclusion of inquiry into institution's finances by office of New York State Atty Gen Eric T Schneiderman; investigation was prompted by lawsuit filed after Cooper Union announced it would charge tuition for first time in its history. MORE

Apr. 8, 2015

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's 17-year old son Dante will soon be joining his sister Chiara in attending college, significant financial burden despite de Blasio's relatively high salary and income from two rental properties; de Blasio has become high-profile example of how rising cost of secondary education is problem even for upper middle-class families. MORE

Apr. 5, 2015

Op-Ed article by Prof Paul F Campos disputes college administrators' explanation for rising costs of higher education as result of cut in public funding for universities; notes that public funding in higher education is larger than it has ever been; identifies the constant expansion of university administration staff, and inflation of administrative salaries, as main culprit in rising tuition costs. MORE

Mar. 26, 2015

Your Money columnist Ron Lieber relates how advice from financial aid expert Roger Koester helped him and his family tackle the daunting prospect of paying for college. MORE

Mar. 10, 2015

Joe Nocera Op-Ed column praises Kevin Carey book The End of College, which indicts current university business model; notes Carey argues that out-of-control tuition costs for college will motivate people to search for different forms of education, like online learning. MORE

Feb. 25, 2015

Op-Ed article by lawyer Steve Cohen suggests that college-based tuition deferment could be solution to soaring cost of college; notes that in such a plan the college would have to borrow capital, which would be cheaper for the school than it currently is for students to take out loans; argues that incentive for colleges to adopt such plans is that it is in their self-interest to hang on to their middle-class customers. MORE

Feb. 18, 2015

Eduardo Porter Economic Scene column holds that while Pres Obama's ambitious plan to offer free tuition could one day leverage incredible potential of community colleges, it faces enormous stumbling block in form of low graduation rates; argues that plan might require additional resources if it is to become engine of upward mobility that Obama wants it to be. MORE

Feb. 8, 2015

George Washington University, onetime up-and-coming school in Washington, DC, has become more exclusive and expensive with addition of campus infrastructure and amenities; some have questioned whether education offered is equal to price tag. MORE

Feb. 7, 2015

Republican lawmakers question motives behind Pres Obama's plan for free community college; complain that they were never consulted on developing a proposal. MORE

Jan. 28, 2015

Obama administration says Pres Obama, confronted with disapproval from parents and both parties, will drop his proposal to end popular 529s college savings accounts; he will retain expanded tuition tax credit as part of his college access plan; move is sharp turn for Obama, who made proposal in his State of the Union message. MORE

Jan. 20, 2015

David Brooks Op-Ed column criticizes Pres Obama's plan to make community college free for many students, arguing that it focuses on enrollment at expense of graduation rates; observes some 66 to 80 percent of community college students drop out, and that Obama's plan will do little to address issue; offers alternative proposals, like paying for living expenses, textbooks and remedial courses. MORE

Jan. 16, 2015

The Upshot; major expansion of financial aid has been announced by Washington University, which is attempting to shed its distinction as the nation's least economically diverse top college; project highlights national shift in higher education in effort to address proportional dearth of low-income students. MORE

Jan. 15, 2015

Editorial supports Pres Obama's proposal to make community colleges tuition-free, but says states and local governments need to start keeping them to loftier standards and commit to steady financing; points out program would aid as many as nine million students. MORE

Jan. 10, 2015

Pres Obama urges Congress to adopt plan that will make community college tuition-free nationwide; critics warn that some public 4-year colleges could see steep drops in enrollment. MORE

Jan. 9, 2015

Pres Obama says he will introduce plan to make community colleges tuition-free for millions of students, in attempt to respond to rising income inequality; program would be paid for by federal government and participating states, but will probably not be welcomed by Republican Congress; Obama plans to make initiative part of his budget proposal. MORE

Nov. 21, 2014

Board of Regents of the University of California, despite opposition from students and Gov Jerry Brown, votes 14-7 to approve tuition increases of up to 5 percent in each of next five years. MORE

Nov. 20, 2014

University of California Board of Regents gives preliminary approval to plan to raise tuition 27.6 percent over five years; Gov Jerry Brown fails to block measure in last-ditch effort; hundreds of students protest, but university system president Janet Napolitano argues that increase is necessary. MORE

Nov. 13, 2014

Three studies, including those by Institute for College Access and Success and College Board, find real costs of college and student borrowing have leveled off, after years of sharp increases in college prices and student debt; it is unclear whether changes mark start of shift toward easing of price increases or just temporary pause. MORE

Oct. 18, 2014

Ron Lieber Your Money column examines options for parents who have saved little to no money for their children's college education. MORE

Oct. 18, 2014

Oct. 8, 2014

Eduardo Porter Economic Scene column asserts that not only are many colleges and universities bleeding taxpayers through high tuition, but the government strategy to subsidize higher education is failing at its core task: giving less privileged Americans a real shot at a college degree; contends it is burdening low-income students with risks they cannot bear and steering them into low-quality educations. MORE

Sep. 21, 2014

Susan Dynarski Economic View column commends Obama administration for undertaking effort to reduce spiraling college costs, but argues that effort is unlikely to work; observes that plan fails to address fundamental fact that financial burden of paying for state schools has shifted from state taxpayers to students themselves. MORE

Aug. 16, 2014

New York State Supreme Court Judge Nancy M Bannon hears arguments in case brought by group of students, faculty members and alumni who are challenging decision by Cooper Union, one of country's few free colleges, to begin charging tuition. MORE

Jul. 29, 2014

David Leonhardt The Upshot column asserts that government's measure for college-tuition inflation, indicating that tuition and fees have risen 107 percent since 1992, is deeply misleading; measure does not reflect what students and their families actually pay, after financial-aid grants. MORE

Jul. 5, 2014

Ron Lieber Your Money column examines rise of services, like In-State Angels, that help high school graduates establish residencies in other states to take advantage of lower college tuition for residents; notes state universities have tightened rules governing residency, which raise host of questions, like does beating the system necessarily mean cheating it. MORE

Jun. 21, 2014

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio promises to improve the process for some parents of special-needs children to get city to pay for private school tuition, holding off an effort by state legislators to make him do so by law. MORE

Jun. 17, 2014

Starbucks' tuition program faces criticism for drawbacks in the fine print--notably that students could have to pay thousands of dollars out of pocket, and wait months or years before being reimbursed; program now applies only to Arizona State’s online courses. MORE

Jun. 17, 2014

Joe Nocera Op-Ed column praises Arizona State University president Michael Crow for his efforts to make school a viable option for low-income students who otherwise might not attain college degree; examines novel partnership between university and Starbucks under which all of company's employees will be eligible to receive a free online college education. MORE

May. 26, 2014

Pres Obama's call for federal rating system for colleges and universities has rattled higher education system; Obama administration says rating system will help determine which institutions are worthy recipients of $150 billion in yearly federal loans and grants, pointing to falling graduation rates and student debt as detractors; college leaders accuse Obama of proposing simplistic solution to complicated problem. MORE

May. 24, 2014

Editorial criticizes increasing tendency among nation's public colleges and universities to raise pay of top administrators while also hiking tuition, shrinking course offerings and lowering faculty pay; cites Institute for Policy Studies report showing that the 25 public universities with the highest compensation for presidents have increased those salaries dramatically since 2008; holds that trend is indicative of larger problems in education. MORE

May. 2, 2014

Florida Senate votes to make students who were brought to United States illegally as children eligible for in-state college tuition; legislation’s passage is sign that Florida’s conservative Legislature and Republican governor are making calculated political move to intensify efforts to woo Hispanic voters. MORE

Apr. 30, 2014

Virginia Atty Gen Mark R Herring tells state’s public colleges and universities that children brought to the United States illegally and raised here qualify for in-state tuition. MORE

Apr. 17, 2014

Advertising column highlights book Everybody Freaks Out! But It's Going to Be Okay, published by financial services company T Rowe Price to ease worries of parents anxious over saving for college; book refers to company's microsite CollegeSavingsChillout.com, which characters in the book use to learn about savings plans. MORE

Apr. 14, 2014

Letter from Jamshed Bharucha, president, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, comments on April 5 article about falling application rate to the school after it decided to charge tuition for the first time. MORE

Apr. 13, 2014

Students and parents have more tools than ever to decipher and compare college financial aid packages, but many remain perplexed by complicated process; two prominent points of confusion revolve around definition of 'need' and differing formulas colleges use to determine who is needy and what aid they will be offered. MORE

Apr. 6, 2014

Op-Ed article by author Mona Simpson describes struggling to pay her tuition for college after she realized there was no family money to cover it, even though her mother had insisted that there was; reflects that the experience taught her how to realistically face her mother's mental illness. MORE

Apr. 5, 2014

Cooper Union, which announced in 2013 that, beginning in 2014 it would charge undergraduate students tuition for the first time in school's history, releases figures that show overall applications are down by just over 20 percent. MORE

Apr. 5, 2014

James B Stewart Common Sense column; Brooklyn Law School says it plans to cut tuition and abandon what has become widespread obsession with climbing ladder of national law school rankings; unusually bold steps are part of effort to confront crisis many institutions are facing in legal education. MORE

Mar. 31, 2014

Letter from Vassar College Pres Catharine B Hill comments on March 21 Steven Cohen Op-Ed article about the expected family contribution metric's effect on college tuition. MORE

Mar. 24, 2014

Many Latinos are frustrated with New York State Senate for failing to pass Dream Act, which would allow undocumented college students who meet certain criteria access to state financial aid; vote raises questions about motives and methodology of Sen Jeffrey D Klein, who decided to bring legislation to vote without its passage assured. MORE

Mar. 21, 2014

Op-Ed article by lawyer and author Steve Cohen highlights how flawed the expected family contribution metric is for determining a family's ability to pay for college tuition; urges political leaders who are serious about controlling college costs and student debt to change formula for the EFC. MORE

Mar. 18, 2014

New York State Senate rejects legislation that would have granted state tuition aid to undocumented immigrants, dealing a blow to immigrant advocates who have been leaning on the Senate for months; Republicans, however, showed no interest in considering the legislation, and the decision to hold a vote came abruptly, with almost no notice. MORE

Mar. 13, 2014

Florida Gov Rick Scott is throwing his support behind a bill that will allow students who are in the country illegally to pay in-state college tuition rates; Scott urged a crackdown on immigration four years ago. MORE

Feb. 22, 2014

Paul Sullivan Wealth Matters column notes that some independent schools have adopted indexed tuition, essentially a pay-what-you-can model for a private education, as both a financial aid strategy and a way to attract people who would not otherwise apply to private school. MORE

Feb. 5, 2014

Tennessee Gov Bill Haslam's proposal to make two years of community college and technical school free for all students would make state the only one in country to charge no tuition or fees to incoming students; Haslam is one of several Republican governors promoting increased spending toward better-educated workforce. MORE